Multimodal Editing and Archival Performance: A Diagrammatic Essay on Transcoding Experimental Literature

Abstract

The aim of "PO.EX: A Digital Archive of Portuguese Experimental Literature" (http://po-ex.net/) is to represent the intermedia and performative textuality of a large corpus of experimental works and practices in an electronic database, including some early instances of digital literature. This article describes the multimodal editing of experimental works in terms of a hypertext rationale, and then demonstrates the performative nature of the remediation, emulation, and recreation involved in digital transcoding and archiving. Preservation, classification, and networked distribution of artifacts are discussed as representational problems within the current algorithmic and database aesthetics in knowledge production.